Magento2 not saving custom attribute for customer

Question

I added a new field in the Magento 2 backend for the customer which is visible. I created this using mage2gen but whatever i try, the new field is not being saved when i update it in the backend.

Since the field is visible in the backend and both the view and api is working as expected i have no clue why it is not working. Below the actual patch i do to add the field and the xml config to make it visible as well.

I tried to add it to the attributeset but as far as i can see the field is registered properly and is also there in customer_eav_attribute

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<form xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
    <fieldset name="general">
        <field formElement="text" name="external_reference" sortOrder="20">
            <argument name="data" xsi:type="array">
                <item name="config" xsi:type="array">
                    <item name="source" xsi:type="string">external_reference</item>
                </item>
            </argument>
            <settings>
                <dataType>text</dataType>
                <label translate="true">External reference</label>
                <dataScope>external_reference</dataScope>
                <validation>
                    <rule name="required-entry" xsi:type="boolean">false</rule>
                </validation>
            </settings>
        </field>
    </fieldset>
</form>

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace Me\DirectLogin\Setup\Patch\Data;

use Magento\Customer\Api\CustomerMetadataInterface;
use Magento\Eav\Setup\EavSetup;
use Magento\Eav\Setup\EavSetupFactory;
use Magento\Framework\Setup\ModuleDataSetupInterface;
use Magento\Framework\Setup\Patch\DataPatchInterface;
use Magento\Framework\Setup\Patch\PatchRevertableInterface;

class AddExternalReferenceCustomerAttribute implements DataPatchInterface, PatchRevertableInterface
{
    /**
     * @var ModuleDataSetupInterface
     */
    private $moduleDataSetup;
    /**
     * @var EavSetupFactory
     */
    private $eavSetupFactory;

    /**
     * Constructor
     *
     * @param ModuleDataSetupInterface $moduleDataSetup
     * @param EavSetupFactory $eavSetupFactory
     */
    public function __construct(
        ModuleDataSetupInterface $moduleDataSetup,
        EavSetupFactory $eavSetupFactory
    ) {
        $this->moduleDataSetup = $moduleDataSetup;
        $this->eavSetupFactory = $eavSetupFactory;
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     */
    public function apply()
    {
        $this->moduleDataSetup->getConnection()->startSetup();
        /** @var EavSetup $eavSetup */
        $eavSetup = $this->eavSetupFactory->create(['setup' => $this->moduleDataSetup]);
        $eavSetup->addAttribute(
            \Magento\Customer\Model\Customer::ENTITY,
            'external_reference',
            [
                'type' => 'varchar',
                'label' => 'External reference',
                'input' => 'text',
                'source' => '',
                'frontend' => '',
                'required' => false,
                'backend' => '',
                'default' => null,
                'user_defined' => true,
                'unique' => true,
                'group' => 'General',
                'system' => 0,
                'order' => 1000,
                'note' => 'Reference to external managed user',
                'is_used_in_grid' => false,
                'is_visible_in_grid' => true,
                'is_filterable_in_grid' => true,
                'is_searchable_in_grid' => true,
            ]
        );

        $eavSetup->addAttributeToSet(
            CustomerMetadataInterface::ENTITY_TYPE_CUSTOMER,
            CustomerMetadataInterface::ATTRIBUTE_SET_ID_CUSTOMER,
            null,
            'external_reference'
        );

        $this->moduleDataSetup->getConnection()->endSetup();
    }

    public function revert()
    {
        $this->moduleDataSetup->getConnection()->startSetup();
        /** @var EavSetup $eavSetup */
        $eavSetup = $this->eavSetupFactory->create(['setup' => $this->moduleDataSetup]);
        $eavSetup->removeAttribute(\Magento\Customer\Model\Customer::ENTITY, 'external_reference');

        $this->moduleDataSetup->getConnection()->endSetup();
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     */
    public function getAliases()
    {
        return [];
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     */
    public static function getDependencies()
    {
        return [

        ];
    }
}

Hope someone can point me to a solution

Best, Pim

Answer 1

I have checked that your code little bit different from the actual mage2gen code. Like you did not add data for "used_in_forms". You can try the below code to create a custom customer attribute (If you want to go with mage2gen)
https://mage2gen.com/snippets/customerattribute/

Or else you can try with the install method. Check below Mageplaza blog url:
https://www.mageplaza.com/magento-2-module-development/magento-2-add-customer-attribute-programmatically.html

Answer 2

Try to use the following in Setup/Patch/Data path

<?php

namespace Vendor\Customer\Setup\Patch\Data;

use Magento\Customer\Model\Customer;
use Magento\Customer\Setup\CustomerSetupFactory;
use Magento\Eav\Model\Entity\Attribute\SetFactory as AttributeSetFactory;
use Magento\Framework\Setup\ModuleDataSetupInterface;
use Magento\Framework\Setup\Patch\DataPatchInterface;

class AddCustomerRefId implements DataPatchInterface
{
    const EXTERNAL_REFERENCE = "external_reference";

    /**
     * @var ModuleDataSetupInterface
     */
    protected $moduleDataSetup;

    /**
     * @var CustomerSetupFactory
     */
    protected $customerSetupFactory;

    /**
     * @var AttributeSetFactory
     */
    protected $attributeSetFactory;

    /**
     * AddCustomerPhoneNumberAttribute constructor.
     * @param ModuleDataSetupInterface $moduleDataSetup
     * @param CustomerSetupFactory $customerSetupFactory
     * @param AttributeSetFactory $attributeSetFactory
     */
    public function __construct(
        ModuleDataSetupInterface $moduleDataSetup,
        CustomerSetupFactory $customerSetupFactory,
        AttributeSetFactory $attributeSetFactory
    ) {
        $this->moduleDataSetup = $moduleDataSetup;
        $this->customerSetupFactory = $customerSetupFactory;
        $this->attributeSetFactory = $attributeSetFactory;
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     */
    public function apply()
    {
        $customerSetup = $this->customerSetupFactory->create(['setup' => $this->moduleDataSetup]);

        $customerSetup->removeAttribute(
            Customer::ENTITY,
            self::EXTERNAL_REFERENCE
        );

        $customerEntity = $customerSetup->getEavConfig()->getEntityType(Customer::ENTITY);
        $attributeSetId = $customerEntity->getDefaultAttributeSetId();

        $attributeSet = $this->attributeSetFactory->create();
        $attributeGroupId = $attributeSet->getDefaultGroupId($attributeSetId);

        $customerSetup->addAttribute(
            Customer::ENTITY,
            self::EXTERNAL_REFERENCE,
            [
                'type' => 'varchar',
                'label' => 'External Reference',
                'required' => false,
                'user_defined' => true,
                'sort_order' => 1000,
                'position' => 1000,
                'default' => 0,
                'system' => 0
            ]
        );

        $attribute = $customerSetup->getEavConfig()->getAttribute(
            Customer::ENTITY,
            self::EXTERNAL_REFERENCE
        );

        $attribute->addData(
            [
                'attribute_set_id' => $attributeSetId,
                'attribute_group_id' => $attributeGroupId,
                'used_in_forms' => ['adminhtml_customer','customer_account_create','customer_account_edit']
            ]
        );

        $attribute->save();
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     */
    public static function getDependencies()
    {
        return [];
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     */
    public function getAliases()
    {
        return [];
    }
}